Interview with Barbara Fairchild

In this age of endless free content, citizen journalism and 140 character reporting, print publications have been having a rough couple of years. No one has written the definitive guide on how to successfully move a print business online, and it’s still a swirling pool of primordial ideas and experiments.

Bon Appétit Magazine has shown resilience during a tough time, having survived a round of closures by their parent company, and I believe a large part of their success has been their ability to adapt to a rapidly changing market. Barbara Fairchild, the Editor-in-Chief of Bon Appétit has been there for over thirty years, yet her views on food, consumers, and publishing are anything but stagnant. I’m particularly encouraged by their efforts to reach out to the food blogger community, a group that a more shortsighted periodical might consider competition (or at least a group of inexperienced rabble-rousers).

Well, it’s almost May, and I’ll be flying out to Vegas next week for what will undoubtedly be a long weekend of overindulging in food and drink. Before I succumb to a calorie induced coma, I had the chance to interview Barbara Fairchild, who revealed her thoughts on food bloggers, changes in the American culinary landscape, and how Bon Appétit is going to take over the world…Marc: When did you discover your passion for food?Barbara: I think that I’ve always been interested in cooking. Food was very important in our house growing up – my mother is a very good cook. When I was in junior high, they still taught home economics, and that was my favorite class – the half the year they taught cooking—not the sewing! I was about 12 then.

Marc: Having been at Bon Appétit for quite some time, you have a unique perspective on the culinary world. What are some of the biggest changes in our nation’s food scene over the past 30 years?Barbara: I think we’ve seen more changes in the past five years than the last 25 before – or maybe it just seems they’ve happened more quickly. In broad strokes: We had the advent of the robot coupe/Cuisinart in the late 1970s that led to more ease in the kitchen in general. Then came the first wave of “New American Cooking,” with chefs like Bradley Ogden, Dean Fearing, Robert Del Grande, Jasper White, Paul Prudhomme, Stephan Pyles, and of course Wolfgang Puck. Certainly Jeremiah Tower cooking at Chez Panisse was very influential. Lots of new talent came up in the 80s and 90s; ingredients from all over the world also started coming into the supermarket, giving so many more people access and inspiring their curiosity to try new recipes; and there was the resurgence of farmers’ markets, too. And now in the last five years, the internet and food on TV has had a revolutionary impact.

Marc: When Gourmet closed, there was an Op-Ed in the Times that seemed to point the finger towards food bloggers and the Internet as a driving force behind the demise of the institution. Do you see food bloggers as a part of the problem or a part of the solution?Barbara: They are not part of the problem at all. Bon Appétit has made it a point to embrace all aspects of new media. It’s important for us to include it all in what we do – we’re much more than a monthly magazine now – we’re a multiplatform foodie resource. I’m actually very proud of the fact that Bon Appétit was the first epicurean magazine (and I believe still the only one) that has a blogger as a monthly columnist in the print publication (Molly Wizenberg/Orangette).

Marc: Times are tough in the publishing industry. What advice would you give to an aspiring food writer?Barbara: Put yourself out there in as many ways as you can. Have a blog, go to conferences, read, eat, travel, and experience as much as you can. All that will pay off.